The BSEB’s notification said that from December 2011 there will be absolutely no power cuts in these places so the consumers will have to pay 10 per cent more.

Incidentally, the BSEB announcement came after repeated hike in power tariff in the last one year, that is, after the November 2010 Assembly election. Average consumers with legal power connection are now paying almost double the electricity bill than more than a year back.

Consumers question the very promise of the BSEB to supply 24 hours electricity as in the words of K P S Keshri, president of the Bihar Industries Association (BIA) and MD of Amarpali Food Ltd, the powr board has not made any investment to strengthen its transmission and distribution system. How then can the consumers be assured of no power cut without any structural changes in the BSEB, he asked.
He is right as only a couple of months back it took 12 days for the power board to change a burnt transformer in posh Kankarbagh Colony of Patna. What is more: the replaced transformer failed within a few hours on the same day.

RJD state chief Ramchandra Purve, while talking to media, asked as to what had happened to Nitish Kumar’s announcement made before coming to power six years back. He had then said that his government would provide electricity to each and every house of the state.

Purve said how can a chief minister wash his hands of from the hike in power and pass on the responsibility to Bihar Electricity Regulatory Commission (BERC). After all who created BERC, Manmohan Singh or Nitish, he asked teasingly.

What is more strange is how can a state government be so selective in assuring power supply to the consumers of just three places––Patna proper, Rajgir block of Nalanda district and Bodh Gaya block of Gaya district. And will the power bill be less if the BSEB fails to supply electricity for full 24 hours in these places? These are some of the questions consumers are asking.

Nowhere in the country any government charges extra money for providing 24 hours service. The BSEB is bound to supply 24 hours supply to all the eonsumers as it is a part of contract.

Though RJD has announced to launch a stir against the move and even staged demonstration people have not taken to streets in a large number. This notwithstanding the fact that the anger is palpable among them.

“Consumers have not taken to streets after the repeated hike in the last one year because of obvious reasons. While slight hike in petrol, kerosene or LPG cylinders evoke massive condemnation the response is lukewarm even when the power tariff has almost been double. This is simply because unlike petroleum product, which everyone has to purchase, there is a large number of people––may be almost 40 to 50 per cent––who never pay a penny as they have illegal connections,” one of the consumers told BiharTimes on condition of anonymity.

He even questioned the manner in which the power board waived the electricity bill of Rs 19 out of 20 crore of a private steel mill in the state. If the power board is so rich and generous why is it imposing levies and surcharges on the poor consumers, he asked.

Another industrialist Sanjeev Choudhary, the managing director of Gangotri Iron and Steel Company, said the board should have first supplied uninterrupted power for two-three months and then issued the notification for the premium charge.
Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee (BPCC) spokesman Vinod Sharma said the state government at times raises power tariff, while at other times imposes service charge on electricity. By raising VAT and increasing holding tax by 25 percent, the present government has surpassed all levels of exploitation.

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